22 Jun 2020

The founder of Thari E Ntsho Story Tellers, Ms Bontekanye Botumile has hailed the Weltwärts volunteers’ programme for empowering young people to be self-reliant.

In an interview, Ms Botumile said the programme has helped them to think outside the box.

She said through the programme, nine young people from Maun had an opportunity to travel to Germany in 2018 to broaden their horizons by learning from the host and working abroad.

Ms Botumile said recently, they hosted another group of volunteers in Maun on a cultural exchange mission, but their stay was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The group, she said, returned home before the end of the exercise eventhough they were supposed to return in July while another group was expected to arrive in August.

Weltwärts is a German programme that aims to meet the interest of many young people to fulfil the dream of living in other countries after school.

Thari E Ntsho Story Tellers, an organisation that promotes cultural preservation and  environmental conservation entered into a partnership with the German volunteers through the programme in 2018, where they had cultural exchange trips.

She also appreciated that the programme promoted Sustainable Development Goals as the volunteers were encouraged to undertake sustainable projects in line with the goals.

During their stay in Germany, Ms Botumile said together with their counterparts, they embarked on a project to refurbish an abandoned playground to benefit both the young and the old.

While in Botswana, they established a vegetable garden to promote irrigation farming.

All the projects, she said, were in line with Sustainable Development Goal 11, which encouraged developing communities while they also inspired the volunteers to learn new life skills. ENDS